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Posted October 27, 2013 07:43 pm - Updated October 28, 2013 11:10 am

Around the District

Early release for KPBSD schools on Wednesday

Six times throughout the academic year, on a Wednesday, schools will meet the minimum day, leaving teachers with approximately ninety minutes of additional time to work on improvement strategies. On these early release dates, school will end ninety minutes (1.5 hours) earlier . Bus transportation will be adjusted by ninety minutes.

October 30; November 20; January 22; February 26; April 16

School board to meet

The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education meets at 7 p.m. at 148N. Binkley Street in Soldotna (unless otherwise noted).

For more information, call 907-714-8888 or visit http://www.kpbsd.k12.ak.us/board.aspx?id=28035. The agenda and packet items are posted on Wednesday afternoon prior to the date of the Board Meeting.

Persons with disabilities who need accommodations to participate at School Board meetings should contact Debbie Tressler at 907-714-8836 or email dtressler@kpbsd.k12.ak.us no later than three business days before the meeting date.

■ December 2, 2013

■ January 13, 2014

■ February 3, 2014

■ March 3, 2014

■ April 14, 2014

■ May 5, 2014 (at Seward High School)

■ June 2, 2014

■ June 3, 2014 (Board Planning Session)

Voice of Democracy scholarships offered

The Veterans of Foreign Wars Jerry V. Horn Memorial Post 10046 and the Ladies of the Auxiliary is sponsoring Voices of Democracy program. The VOD is a national scholarship program that started in 1947 for students in grades nine through 12, including home schooled students. The program offers students a chance to win money for college by expressing their own original thoughts on this year’s topic ‘Why I’m Optimistic about our Nations future.’ To enter, students must write and then record a three to five minute original essay on CD or cassette tape. There should be no background music on the tape — clear enunciation of words is crucial.

For an official entry form and more information, check the VFW website at www.vfw.org, contact a school counselor, or call Herb Stettler at 907-398-1367 or Rachel Jurco at 907-262-1352. Entries must be submitted to the VFW Post 10046 at 134 N. Birch St., Soldotna Alaska 99669 no later than Friday.

Patriot's Pen Essay competition on tap

The Veterans of Foreign Wars Jerry V. Horn Memorial Post 10046 and its Ladies Auxillary is sponsoring the national Patriot’s Pen Essay Competition. Students in grades sixth through eighth, including home schooled students, have the opportunity to compete in the VFW’s annual essay competition to earn monetary awards and a trip to Washington, D.C. in March 2014.

Information about the scholarship program has been distributed to all local schools. For an official entry form, visit the VFW website at www.vfw.org. For more information, contact a school counselor or call VFW Patriot’s Pen Chairman, Herb Settler at 907-394-367 or the Ladies Auxillry Chair, Rachel Jurco at 907-262-1352. All entries must be submitted directly to the post at 134 N. Birch Street, Soldotna, Alaska 99669 no later than Friday.

The Study

The Study is offering its next Pilot Ground School Course (non-cedit course) starting Nov. 7 from 5:30-8:30 p.m.

The next Research Based Reading Intervention Course wstarts Nov. 5 Tuesday and Thursdays from 2-3 p.m.

Connections Homeschool Program

Tuesday— iPad Share & Pair 1 – 2 p.m. at Kaladi Brothers 44350 Sterling Highway. Connections families are invited to meet at the Soldotna Kaladi Brothers by Subway. We will discuss and share educational apps. Please bring your ipad and we will bring the coffee. Contact Shelli Furlong: sfurlong@kpbsd.k12.ak.us. Please send me an email if you think you might be able to attend.

Nov. 7 — School Picture Retakes – 3 to 5 p.m. at the Kenai Peninsula Borough Building in the Assembly Room

Nov. 15 — High School Eligibility due by noon.

IDEA Homeschool program

IDEA welcomes enrollment in our homeschooling support program. To learn more or enroll please visit our office in The Red Diamond Center on K-Beach Road or call 907-260-7555.

IDEA will host a homeschool swim day at H2Oasis in Anchorage today.

Kaleidoscope School of Arts and Sciences

Kaleidoscope was named one of 49 schools in the state for the “Alaskan Reward School for 2013”, exceeding the criteria in both categories of Highest Performing and High Progress. Kaleidoscope was named Highest Performing because we are in the top ten percent of schools based on our state ASPI rating and we have increased the percentage of students who are proficient in all academic areas. We were also named a High Progress School by achieving a 95% or higher in the growth and proficiency index over the last three years and we met 95% or higher of growth and proficiency in all sub categories.

Monday at 4:15 p.m., the APC will be having a work session for the 2014-2015 budget. Public input is welcome at that meeting.

Tuesday and Wednesday the Fire Department will be here teaching students about fire safety. The younger grades will experience going through the Fire House.

Wednesdayis our monthly early release day. Students will be dismissed at 2:10 p.m.; please note that all buses will be running 90 minutes early on this afternoon.

Thursday at 3 p.m. is our annual Costume Parade. Come see all of the wonderful costumes. Remember that all costume should be appropriate for an elementary school.

Christmas Drive information will be sent home with all students on Friday. For those requesting assistance, the deadline is November 15 for returning your completed form.

PTA News

Congratulations to our students who participated in our PTA sponsored Summer Reading Program. They read a total of 53384 minutes. The top reader in each grade received a $15 gift voucher to use at our school book fair.

The LifeSkill we are focusing on this week is Creativity: To generate ideas; to create something original or redesign through imaginative skill.

K-Beach Elementary

Saturday K-Beach 3rd graders will perform with the Kenai Peninsula Orchestra in the LinkUp program sponsored by Carnegie Hall.

Concert starts at 3 p.m. at KCHS. Students should show at 1:45 p.m. for a dress rehearsal. No fee will be charged, but donations will be accepted at the door.

Today through Nov. 11 – The Veterans Wall of Honor will be on display in the K-Beach commons area.

Wednesday - Assembly at 10:15 a.m. in the gym. Mrs. Balise will present awards to students who participated in running club. This will be followed by a short presentation by the KCHS Drum Line (15) minutes.

Tuesday — Concert at 7 p.m. in the gym for fourth- through sixth-grade band students.

K-Beach will hold its annual Veterans Day assembly on Nov. 8th at 8 a.m. in the K-Beach gym. Everyone is asked to dress in red, white and blue to show their support for the men and women of our military.

A big thank you goes to our visiting author Charlene Constanzo, and the Central Peninsula Hospital outreach program for organizing the visit. 63 fourth graders received a visit from Constanzo last week. Constanzo read her book, 12 Gifts of Birth, to the students and discussed the reason behind her words. Some of the 12 gifts include faith, courage, love, strength, and wisdom. “The kids really enjoyed (Constanzo’s) visit.” Says Jason Daniels, a fourth grade teacher at K-Beach Elementary. “Kids need to hear these positive messages now, more than ever, they need to know that many people care for them.” Constanzo also gave a parent and teacher inservice after school, based on the topics in her books. Constanzo was brought up to Alaska from Florida where she lives.

Kenai Middle School

Red Ribbon Week is the oldest and largest drug prevention campaign in the country. This year Red Ribbon Week will be celebrated through Tuesday. Red Ribbon Week commemorates the ultimate sacrifice made by DEA Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, who died at the hands of drug traffickers in Mexico while fighting the battle against illegal drugs to keep our country and children safe.

This week every day will have a different theme.

Monday – “Say no to drugs and bullies” (everyone should were RED)

Tuesday – “Friends don’t let friends do drugs or bully” (Twin Day)

Wednesday – “Blow bubbles not smoke” (Wear PINK)

Thursday – “Drugs are scary” (Wear appropriate Halloween costumes)

Friday – “Stomp out drugs” (Wear mismatched shoes)

There will be lots of fun activities at lunch and a chance for prizes by dressing for the daily theme.

Students that are interested in Battle of the Books need to sign up in the Library with Ms. Gann. There will be a meeting today during Advisory in the Library. Battle of the Books is open to all students.

Remember that Wednesday is an early release day. Students will be dismissed at 12:57pm.

Kenai Middle/High

Congratulations to these Nikiski seventh and eighth graders for their accomplishments at this year’s district “Mind A-Mazes” meet this year at Soldotna Middle. The teams spent several weeks designing, building, testing, and modifying their devices for this year’s challenge. With almost 50 teams from around the district registered to participate, the seventh grade team (‘Krazy Cangaroos’ - Thomas Halliday, Gabriel Smith, John Bright) won the Judges Choice Award for their creative device design, and the eighth grade team (‘This Side Up’ – Jamie Yerkes, Melanie Sexton, Aaron McCollum, Sarah Nash) won both the overall Spontaneous Problem Challenge and First place overall for the intermediate seventh – 12th division.

Wednesday is early release day for students with school dismissing at 2 pm. If you have any questions, please call the school office at 776-2600.

NNS’s Scholastic book fair was a huge success once again. Thank you to volunteer Travis Moore for donating his time again to make this possible for the students of NNS.

Thank you to the PTA for organizing our annual Fall Carnival this past Saturday. The community has enjoyed this event for the past 36 years and it would not be possible without the generous donations of our local businesses and individuals.

Nikiski Neighbors is organizing the Thanksgiving food baskets to benefit families in need. Thanksgiving food baskets are available that include a complete holiday dinner to prepare in your home. All families living north of milepost 15.5 can apply. Applications can be found at the Nikiski Post Office, Nikiski High School, and Nikiski North Star Elementary. All applications need to be turned in by Nov. 7.

Redoubt Elementary

Wednesday —Students—Early Release 1:45 p.m.

Thursday – Halloween Parade 2:30 p.m. in the school gym.

Saturday – Link UP concert

Nov. 12 - PTA – Meeting –5:00pm child care provided.

Nov. 14 - Site Council Meeting – 3:30 – staff lounge.

Music Concert, Saturday 3 p.m. The third,fourth, and fifth-graders are working on music for a concert with the Kenai Peninsula Orchestra on Saturday, This concert is based on Carnegie Hall’s educational program, Link Up, which is currently being used by over 40 orchestras in the United States.

A scheduled Early Release for students will be October 30th at 1:45. Buses will transport students & Boys and Girls Club will be open. Thank you for your assistance. Please feel free to call the office if you have any questions.

River City Academy

RCA is currently accepting applications for students in grades 7-12 who are interested in a different school experience. Students who demonstrate skills in being self-motivated, successful time managers and advocate on their own behalf are often an ideal fit for RCA.

The performance-based model offers students choice in their education inside of a consistent standards-based curriculum. For more information, please call 714-8945.

The volleyball team remains undefeated! They played defeated Sitka and Mt. Edgecumbe October 18th. Games against Sitka were 23-25, 25-7, 25-15 and 25-18 and against Mt. Edgecumbe, the scores were 13-25, 30-28, 25-20 and 25-18. On October 19th, the team beat Sitka in 3 games, 25-11, 25-18 and 25-15 and Mt. Edgecumbe in 5 with scores of 25-23, 25-23, 14-25, 23-25 and 15-9.

The Skyview wrestling team took second place at the Bush Brawl in Kotzebue. Austin Craig, at 113, and Sage Hill, at 220, both took titles for the Panthers. Seth Hutchison (120), Grant Valiquette (126), Ashton Mahan (170) and James Gallagher (182) all finished second for the Panthers. Finishing third were Ryan Winter (126), Bailey Blumentritt (145) and Taylor Macrae (220). Charles Gibbons was fourth at 132.

The wrestlers also took second place at the Homer Rumble. Jaryn Tanner took 2nd at 132, at 152-160, Austin Schrader was 1st, Jesse Boze was 3rd and Ben Hadfield was 4th, Mason Castagnier was 2nd at 170-182, Iisha Oftedal was 2nd at 195 and Sawyer Mahan was 2nd at 220.

Wednesday at 6pm is the speed and quickness portion of the SST competition featuring Kenai, Skyview and Nikiski highs. It is at Skyview High this year, many new athletes are competing as well as many returners. We will compete in the 40 yard dash, vertical jump, standing long jump, the shuttle run (we call it the I-test) and a grueling cardio version of the competition we call fight gone bad. This is the 4th bi-annual competition, the traveling trophy has found its way into all 3 competing high schools over the past 2 years with victories of incredibly small margins. Join us for a great night of friendly competition based on health and fitness.

Interested in working in the pharmacy industry? The Workforce Development Center is offering an online “Pharmacy Technician” class starting 2nd semester. If interested please fill out the application found in the “One Stop portal.” Applications will be accepted until Dec. 1st. See your counselor if you need help with finding the application.

Soldotna Elementary

Our book fair was a wonderful event at the Soldotna Elementary library.Students came into the library with their pencils and clipboards and made wish lists to present to their parents before the parent/teacher conferences. It is always an enjoyable fundraiser for our school as everybody loves books, and they were new and beautiful, and there was plenty of room to shop comfortably. Thank you PTA for all your hard work in set up and take down, and of course, manning the sale itself. You ladies are so appreciated.

Early release day is Wednesday. Students are dismissed at 1:55 p.m. The bus schedules will be adjusted by 90 minutes. When we have these early release days, there is not an afternoon class for Mrs. Cannava’s preschoolers.

Fun Fest is coming up on Friday. This is for Soldotna Elementary students only. The forms went out a couple weeks ago and are due back today. The forms must be returned by that day in order for the student to attend.

The first PTA meeting will be held this afternoon in the library. Child care will be provided. Please come and be a part of our wonderful PTA.

Soldotna area families are invited to a Public Forum on Nov. 12, from 4 to 6 p.m. at Soldotna City Hall to discuss the Safe Routes to School project.

Mrs. Vasilie’s kindergarten class has been working diligently on projects related to the book, Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak. Mrs. Vasilie has read the story to them several times, and the students made a habitat for their wild things. They also cut out magazine pictures and made wild things. Later, they wrote a story about what they would do if they were leader of the Wild Things.

Mrs. Cannava’s preschoolers worked on painting with real octopus. They laid them carefully in paint and pressed them onto paper with beautiful and fascinating results. Great job kids.

Monday and Tuesday are the last two days of Intramural Basketball : Girls practice first 2:30 to 4 p.m., Boys practice second 4 to 5:30 p.m..

Wednesday – Competitive Basketball Begins.

Wednesday– Early Release For Students. Students at Soldotna Middle School will end the school day at 12:45 p.m. Bus schedules will be adjusted to accommodate this time change. For complete details regarding this schedule change, please visit the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Website @ www.kpbsd.k12.ak.us

Practice sessions for the statewide Battle of the Books Competition will begin at the end of October. Students in grades K- 6 will participate. We are still in need of parent volunteers to help facilitate the practice groups.

Tustumena Elementary

No Girl Scouts held today.

Early release on Wednesday. Release and bus schedule are 90 minutes early.

Trunk or Treat will be held Thursday starting at 5 p.m.

The book fair continues through Nov. 2.

The School Carnival will be held Friday. Kids can wear their Halloween costumes if they like. There will be pictures, games, treats, and a raffle.

Wings Christian Academy

Parent Night will be held Tuesday at 7 p.m.

BEMA Volleyball game will be held Friday at Wings Christian Academy, Kenai.